The NFL New England Patriots are so bad this year that they spend little to no time in the end zone from game to game.

It’s unfortunate for a couple of reasons.  One, it’s why they stink.  But, more importantly, two, they rarely get a chance to read their own “writing” at the back of the end zone.

“END RACISM” is the message and it’s screamed in all caps to ensure you get it loud and clear.

They didn’t listen to Morgan Freeman many years ago.  He proclaimed that if you want to stop racism, stop talking about it.

Joe Biden didn’t listen.  He promised and delivered on a campaign promise to nominate the first black woman justice to the Supreme Court if he were elected.  He made sure you heard it loud and clear.  Keep telling the people they’re being held back, but you’re the solution.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu must not have Patriots season tickets.  She drew criticism Wednesday after her aide sent a holiday party invite to all members of the Boston City Council for an “Electeds of Color Holiday Party,” even though seven of the officials are white.

“We had individual conversations with everyone so people understand that it was truly just an honest mistake that went out in typing the email field,” Wu claimed.  What’s amazing is she isn’t apologizing for being exclusive, she’s apologizing that you were mistakenly invited to an event that you weren’t invited to.

“It is my intention that we can, again, be a city that lives our values and create space for all kinds of communities to come together,” she added.  There’s nothing like a noninclusive event to create space for all kinds of communities to come together.

They must have had a lot of word salad at the event.  Per Freeman, when will it not be all kinds of communities, but one community of Americans?

Why do we seemingly talk about racism as it applies to blacks disproportionately?  Never forget, Black Lives Matter.  Is it because the other races get Freeman’s message and don’t want to talk about it?

Black City Councilor Brian Worrell held a different opinion and defended the invitation, suggesting the holiday party was merely a way to represent “all kinds of special groups” in the Boston government.

Most kinds maybe.  Some kinds for sure.  But all kinds?  Nope.

“I don’t get offended too easily,” outgoing Councilman Frank Baker, a white Democrat, told the Boston Herald. “To offend me, you’re going to have to do much more than not invite me to a party.”

Outgoing Baker wants us to stop talking about it, it seems.  Would a similar sentiment exist if the dinner tables were turned?

We wonder if Wu promised to nominate someone to replace him(assuming Frank identifies as such) with the first half-black, half-brown, illegal, disabled, binary, or nonbinary Ukrainian alien.

END RACISM.

It all started when Paul Reviere took a midnight ride in 1775.

Thirteen colonies severed their political connections with Great Britain in 1776 declaring independence.  They were unhappy with laws that collected taxes but did not give them a say in government.  It was expensive to not be heard.

Later, George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River and it was on.

But, it was later, much later on September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution.  The first one protected freedom of speech and expression.

The fight for the right to speak freely allowed the winners to do just that.  And, it seems that we have been fighting amongst ourselves to determine what is free to be spoken about or expressed and what is not ever since.

What we have decided so far is that you cannot scream “fire” in a crowded theater when there is no fire.  But you can burn the very flag that Betsy Ross either did or did not sew to celebrate our freedom.  We also revise history daily, but we digress.

Fast forward nearly two hundred and fifty years and now we have what is known as “hate speech.”

The Harvard Board met Tuesday and issued the following statement.  “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing.”

Did it all start with God creating Adam and Eve?  Or, did humans naturally evolve over the course of millions of years?  Do you believe in a superior being or do you believe in the Big Bang Theory?

Regardless of your beliefs, do you believe that the beginning of mankind was(somehow) a singular event? You would be hard-pressed to explain it otherwise.

Therefore, weren’t the first and by extension aren’t all humans created equal?  The authors of this nation’s Declaration of Independence thought so.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

There it is. It’s the preamble to the declaration.  By definition, it is the very basis for what follows.

Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling block to tyranny and oppression.”

If you’re on board so far, this leads to a fundamental question.  Who on this earth has any right whatsoever to take the life of another?

Isn’t the answer absolutely no one?  No.  It isn’t.  But, it’s close.

The right to defend yourself, your family, your home, or your country when there is a very real threat to your existence is justified.

Some say this is where it gets a bit grey.  Maybe it is an ever so tiny, tiny, bit grey.  But that is painting with a tiny, tiny brush.  The broad strokes are very clear.

al Qaeda flew planes into the Twin Towers, and the Pentagon, and wanted to hit the White House.  There is ISIS.  The Taliban.  Hamas was formed in 1987 and has been murdering ever since.  Terrorist groups all.

There are(were) many other groups, unfortunately as well.

Nazis.  Mafia.  KKK.  Street gangs.  Drug Cartels.

There are individuals.

Serial Killers.  Vigilanties.  Domestic abusers.  Armed robbers.  Rapists.  Road Ragers.  Jilted lovers.

Ending another’s life without justifiable provocation has gone on since life began.  The human mind can be a very dark and weak space.  You would think that mentally pulling the trigger would be far tougher than physically doing so.  You would hope.

There is a very fine line between civility and incivility.

But, you have no right to take another’s most basic right.  That’s the right to live.

If you believe in an eye for an eye, the punishment for crossing the line should be swift and severe.

If you don’t what is the solution?

We’ve been searching for it since the beginning of mankind.

The first bad actor in the latest play on the world stage was Russia.

Their yearlong and counting Act One has been expensive to watch (120 billion or so and counting as well).  You don’t even get to see it anymore, you just hear about it.

Enter Hamas(spelled I.r.a.n.).  Their brutal sneak attack on Israel reset the low bar.  Act Two now, and rightfully so, has Israelis participating by air and by land.

Is China far behind?  Aren’t they looking for an entry point?  There are others(North Korea notable among them), but mostly they have smaller roles.

The world theater seems conducive to more heinous misbehavior.   Is there a perceived weakness abroad about us at home?  Maybe.

But, while we watch from across one pond and maybe soon two ponds, should we be looking elsewhere?

Elsewhere as in-home and specifically to the south.

It was noisy and deadly with radicalized jihad-type folks after 9/11/01 till around 2015 in the United States.  Then it became quite quiet.

But with millions pouring in unabated from dozens of foreign lands through Mexico into the US, should we feel safe here at home?

Fear-mongering you say?  Maybe drop the mongering part as it’s just fear from learned experience.  Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it someone once or twice has said.

Dozens of books chronicled our multiple government agencies’ inability to work together to connect the warning dots that enabled 9/11.

What’s changed?  What’s changed is nothing and plenty.

Does it feel like we are more cohesive today than we were back then?  Do we know what we don’t know?

The Department of Defense is ready. Or not.

“The planet’s changing climate has a significant effect on Defense Department missions, plans, and installations. DOD is elevating climate change as a national security priority, integrating climate considerations into policies, strategies, and partner engagements.”  That’s straight from their website.

The Department of Homeland Security is ready, too.

“Addressing the climate emergency is a priority for DHS as sea-level rise, extreme weather events, workforce health, and other direct and indirect impacts of climate change will affect the Nation’s preparedness and national security over the long term.”  Yep, that’s straight from their website.

Maybe we can bomb the next “weather bomb cyclone” before it strikes the mainland.  But can we unearth cells that may have taken root right in our own backyard?  Did they walk right in and sit right down?

When you pull back the curtains how can you like what you see on the big screen?

The US is watching.

And, now the world is acting.